This weekend Nigeria’s main opposition party selects its candidate to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari in the elections in February 2019.

Recent defection of 13 candidates  from Buhari’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)  added tension to upcoming contest.

Seven have ties with states in the northwest, mostly as current or past governors, bolstering the party in a traditional Buhari stronghold.

In February 2019 Nigerians will vote for their next president and the governors of 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states, as well all federal and state legislators. The elections will culminate contest between the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) against the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP). There are no expectations of a substantial growth of the smaller political parties, allowing them to contest the ruling APC.

The opposition PDP currently controls 12 state governorships from total 36 and the office of deputy president of the Senate, and, as a result of large-scale defections from the APC in July 2018 – an apparent majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The experts say the PDP’s  possible victory will depend on two main factors: the political background and personal popularity of the party’s presidential nominee, and his ability to unify against a generously financed incumbent who enjoys a strong support across a substantial  part of the north.

However the supporters of the President Buhari have already manifested their firm believe in his victory for the next mandate.

Nigeria is the largest African economy and the most populous country of the continent with 200 million inhabitants. The 86.9 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty representing nearly 50% of its estimated 180 million population. As Nigeria faces a population boom—it will become the world’s third largest country by the mid of the century.